page_title: Nikoloz Baratashvili
section_title: Works
hierarchical_section_title: Nikoloz Baratashvili / Works
caption_attribution_description: English: A manuscript of the poem bedi kartlisa by the Georgian poet Nikoloz Baratashvili, 1839
context_page_description: Prince Nikoloz "Tato" Baratashvili was a Georgian poet. He was one of the first Georgians to marry modern nationalism with European Romanticism and to introduce "Europeanism" into Georgian literature. Due to his early death, Baratashvili left a relatively small literary heritage of fewer than forty short lyrics, one extended poem, and a few private letters, but he is nevertheless considered to be the high point of Georgian Romanticism. He was referred to as the "Georgian Byron".
context_section_description: A key insight into the Weltanschauung of Baratashvili can be found in his historical poem Fate of Georgia (ბედი ქართლისა, bedi k'art'lisa; 1839), an inspiring and articulate lament for Georgia's latest misfortunates. This poem, written by Baratashvili at the age of 22, is based on a real historical event: the 1795 ruining of Tbilisi by the Persian ruler Mohammad Khan Qajar, which forced the disappointed Georgian king Erekle II to relegate his country's security onto the Russian Empire. However, national problems considered in this work are viewed with a modern approach; the poem considers not only Georgia's past, but also its future in the aftermath of the failed revolt of 1832. In this poem, Baratashvili reproduces the debate of Erekle II with his chancellor, Solomon Lionidze who opposes the union with Russia and thinks that this will result in the loss of Georgia's national identity. Lionidze's wife asks her husband, in a lament that became familiar to all literate Georgians: "What pleasure does the tender nightingale receive from honor if it is in a cage?" The sympathies of the poet and reader both fall on Solomon's side, but the objectively rational decision of the king prevails.
  During his short creative life (1833–45) Baratashvili developed difficult concepts of art and ideas. In the words of the British scholar Donald Rayfield, Baratashvili "evolved a language all his own, obscure but sonorous, laconically modern, sometimes splendidly medieval, with pseudo-archaisms." In his earlier poem Dusk on Mtatsminda (შემოღამება მთაწმინდაზე, shemoghameba mt'ats'mindaze; 1833–36) the reader can feel a romantic aspiration to be freed of earthly burdens and joined with secret natural forces. Baratashvili's love-poetry reached its acme with his unhappy obsessive love for Princess Chavchavadze and is impregnated with an idea of the orphaned soul as in The Orphaned Soul (სული ობოლი, suli oboli; 1839). Despaired of human happiness, Baratashvili admires the superhuman historical figures, such as Erekle II and Napoleon, whom he deems to be beyond joy and misery. Among his most significant works are the poems The Evil Spirit (სული ბოროტი, suli boroti; 1843), Thought on the Riverside of Mtkvari (ფიქრი მტკვრის პირას, p'ik'ri mtkvris piras; 1837), and Pegasus (მერანი, Merani; 1842). This latter poem fascinated later Georgian poets as a mystic, apocalyptic vision of the future. In it the omnipotent mind, inspired by faith, calls for the poem's lyrical hero to knowingly sacrifice himself in the name of his brethren. The tragic optimism of Merani is a striking manifestation of the romantic spirit: active, life-asserting, and full of revolutionary aspirations. Merani is a prominent work of Georgian Romanticism both from an ethical-philosophical view, and from an artistic-aesthetic point of view.
caption: Bedi Kartlisa by Baratashvili, 1839.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot SD970 IS", "Image DateTime": "2010:07:06 18:29:10", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Tag 0x1001": "4000", "Image Tag 0x1002": "3000", "Image ExifOffset": "194", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/30", "EXIF FNumber": "16/5", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:07:06 18:29:10", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:07:06 18:29:10", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "157/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "107/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "107/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "33/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3000", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "4000", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1000000/61", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "1000000/61", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}